Chapter 126
"So Finn, this is Regan, and Grace. They're my cousins. Grace, Regan, This is Finn, my boyfriend."
"Finn, you're a lucky man. Our cousin is an amazing woman." said Grace. "She told me a bit about you this morning. I was disappointed to hear you don't have a brother. I didn't think I'd get to meet you today though. Tess said you were in Adelaide."
"Yes, Tess is amazing. She dazzled me the first time I met her. I was in Adelaide, I drove here this morning, when Tess invited me last night. I didn't want to miss it," Finn replied.
"She has that dazzling effect on people, it's because she's awesome." added Regan.
"She's incredible." said Finn looking at Tess with amazement in his eyes.
"Well, Finn, I will say this, hurt her, and I'll hurt you," Regan threatened with a smile on her face.
"Oh Regan, don't scare him away. Trust me, it's already been tried," said Stevie as she approached the group. She was smiling and had been looking at her phone. She slid her phone back into her pocket. "Finn, I'm glad you worked through that first awful dinner we had at the pub. Be good to our girl, okay?" Stevie winked. "Girls, Jodi said it's time."
"Sorry Finn, we've got to go. Official Drovers Run business," said Grace.
"Matt is right over there with my husband Dylan, if you need a familiar face, because we're stealing her," Regan said, as she put her arm around Tess.
"We'll be back in a few minutes," Tess told Finn. She stopped and held both of his hands and looked into his eyes for a moment before she walked away.
Finn walked over to find Matt with a bandaged up foot. He was sitting with Dylan and Ben.
"Matt, it's good to see you again, but, what happened to your ankle?" asked Finn.
"I hurt it in the Demolition Derby." said Matt.
"Yeah, he tripped over a tire jack in between rounds." joked Dylan "Hey, I'm Dylan, Regan's husband. Nice to meet you."
"It was still part of the Demo Derby. That's my story and I'm sticking with it." laughed Matt "Fortunately Finn, your girl went beast mode as my replacement in the final, and brought home the third place trophy for Drovers Run. Ben, Dylan this is Finn, he's seeing Tess."
"Yeah Tess did pretty well, but my cousin Stevie brought home the W for Killarney," quipped Ben. "Nice to meet you Finn. I'm engaged to Tess's cousin Jasmine. I'm Ben Hall.
"Don't mind him, he has split loyalties. He is engaged to a McLeod woman, but he's related to the Ryans of Killarney and works there too," explained Matt.
"So you and Tess, hey? Do you love her?" questioned Dylan.
"Dylan, give him a break, he's been driving all day just to get here for Tess," said Matt, feeling bad for Finn and the situation he found himself in with not really knowing anyone at the party.
"I love her. She's amazing," admitted Finn.
"Okay, that's good, that's what I wanted to hear, because from what I just saw from Tess, she looks pretty in love with you, so let me give you some advice on loving a McLeod woman. I think boys, you can all back me up on this." said Dylan.
"Oh, Dylan. What are you going to say? Don't be too hard on the guy," Matt shook his head at his cousin-in-law. "Dylan, he's here meeting her entire family all at once, he brought flowers for her and for Charlotte, he loves her. He drove all the way from Adelaide to be here. He's doing a good job so far," said Matt.
"You see Finn, McLeod women are a very special class of women. They are not like any other women out there. They're just better. They're more beautiful, they're more generous, they're more passionate, they simply are the best women any man can ever hope to be with."
"I'm actually agreeing with him on this,'' laughed Ben, "Keep going, mate. I think you're on a roll."
"McLeod women love more passionately than other women. I don't just mean romantically, although that part is true too, and incredible in its own right. They love each other, their friends, their community, all of it, more passionately than anyone else does. If you are a lucky enough bloke to become an object of a McLeod woman's love, do whatever it takes to keep that love, because McLeod women, you see, they love on a different level." explained Dylan.
"Here! here!" said Matt "Keep it going Dill. This is the most sense you've ever made."
"McLeod women are all amazing in their own different ways, but each of them is an exquisite flower. They will go to the ends of the earth for each other, and anyone that they love, including us lucky blokes. The McLeod women are the strongest, most beautiful, most compassionate, most generous, and quite honestly, the most sexy women that exist in the world. They stick together and we stick with them. So Finn, if you're lucky enough to have become the object of Tess's love, you've won the lottery, mate. She will show you love you can't even imagine, but Finn, and this is very important to understand, so listen carefully. Because they love so passionately, and deeply, their pain runs deeper too, and if one McLeod woman is hurting, they all hurt, and we all hurt," said Dylan as he pointed to Matt and Ben. "So Finn, treat her like the exquisite flower she is, and accept that you're not just Tess' boyfriend, you're a guardian to all of the McLeods." said Dylan.
"Excuse me everyone, we have an announcement to make," Jodi interrupted before Finn had a chance to respond to Dylan. "I know Charlotte has many gifts here, and she'll open them later, but there is one gift that we wanted to give Charlotte now, publicly."
Tess and Stevie stood with Jodi. "The three of us are the co-owners of Drovers Run. Each of us have gained more from Drovers Run than we could have ever expected. That was mostly because of the women we have shared it with." Kate, Regan, Grace, Jaz, Meg, Moira, Tayler, Ingrid, Claire, Meggie, Katie, and Becky joined them in front of the crowd. "These are the women of Drovers Run. All of us here have made Drovers Run home at some point in our lives since Charlotte was born, and all of us are better, stronger, women for the experience. Charlotte, we love you so much, and we loved your mother. We wanted to publicly acknowledge to everyone who is important to us that you are one of us, you are a woman of Drovers Run, and we wanted to give you this," Tess announced, as she handed her an envelope. Charlotte looked very embarrassed, but opened the envelope and looked at the paper inside.
"This is too much, I can't accept this." Charlotte said, stunned by what she was looking at.
"Charlotte, this is your share of Drovers Run. The share your mother should still hold, a share equal with her sisters," Jodi explained.
Stevie stepped forward and began to speak, "I was proud to help keep this safe for you while you were young, but now that you're of age, it's time for Drovers Run to be solely in the hands of the Daughters of Jack McLeod, and their daughters. I got my investment back one thousand fold, and I hope you get even more than that. Happy Birthday Charlotte." Stevie took a step back lining up with the other women of Drovers, leaving Charlotte in front with Jodi and Tess.
"Charlotte, you are now an equal owner of Drovers Run. You are our equal. You don't need to move here, or anything, although we would love it if you did, but we wanted to tell you in front of everyone we love and care about, that you, Charlotte, will always be McLeod, you will always be loved, you will always belong and you will always have a home here if you want it," Tess announced to her and to all of the guests at the party. She was crying. Charlotte was crying, Jodi was crying. Charlotte grabbed Jodi and Tess and hugged them tight. Stevie, Meg, Kate and all of the women of Drovers Run jumped into the hug and just celebrated the moment they were in, together in sisterhood.
"See, it's just like I said. There is absolutely nothing like a McLeod woman. No one is more generous, or compassionate, or loving. We all hit the fucking lottery boys," Dylan asserted.
Matt, Ben and Finn all completely agreed.
"So Dylan, I overheard your tribute to the McLeods and I have only one question. How do you reckon I might find a woman like that?" Bobby asked as he entered the circle the men were sitting in.
"Well, it's not that easy." Dylan thought of Grace. There was no way she would be ready for a relationship yet. Ben and Matt didn't even know she was divorcing Gavin yet. Now wasn't the time to try to set Bobby up with Grace.
"It looks like your son might have a fighting chance, though." Ben pointed over to where Blake was with Claire, who was just sitting back down in a chair right next to him after the gift presentation. He was looking up at her and smiling.
"Well in that case, I just hope he doesn't screw it up. Blake hasn't had a girlfriend before," said Bobby.
"Bump, bump, bump, another one bites the dust" Dylan sang the Queen song. "It looks like we might have another bloke under the spell of a McLeod woman." said Dylan as he smiled at the two teenagers sitting together.
"Meg, I can't believe you and Terry were able to get everything done for the party while we were off doing our ride for Jaz and Ben." Grace said. "You guys got so much done. Everything looks great, and the food was delicious,"
"Well we were doing our best, but the truth is, we would never have finished on time, but Bobby turned up with Blake. They just showed up and said 'we reckoned you'd need some hands since everyone else is out on the engagement ride for Jaz. We're here to work.' They were awesome. They got all the tables set up, all the chairs, everything, When they finished, they were both sweaty and filthy. They left to change their clothes and such and then came back just like all the other guests. so no one even knew how helpful they had been. Blake seems like a nice young man, and I don't know Bobby well, but he seems like the kind of guy who doesn't worry about taking credit for the good deeds he does," said Meg.
"Wow, that is really nice. I'm glad you got the help. It seems like Bobby is a good guy," said Grace. A good looking guy too, those blue eyes and dimples are awfully nice, thought Grace.
"Yeah, I'm glad Stevie has got Bobby over on Killarney, it's a big property for her, Ben, and Bobby as it is, there is no way that just her and Ben could handle it."
"Do you think Stevie needs more help with the station?" asked Grace.
"Well Xander is growing up and is able to help more, but I know he is really passionate about rodeo, so he and Stevie travel a lot for competitions. They are gone probably every third weekend or so as it is. I'm sure she will hire someone if she needs to."
Grace glanced over at Bobby, who was hanging with her brother-in-law and some of the other blokes. She thought he had kind eyes and a great smile.
Well at least there's a few good men still around, thought Grace.